The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-11-30
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Parental Blunders."

and he died; for he ,vas an old man, ant
heauy."-I Samuel iv., Is
This is the end Of long story Of parenta
neglect. Judge Eli was good man, but h
Let his two boys, Hophni and Phinehas, do a:
they pleased, and through over-indugenc'
they went to ruin. The blind old judge
ninety-eight years OF age, Is seated at tht
gate waiting for the news OF an important
battle in which his two sons were at the front
An express is coming with tidings from tht
battle. This blind nonagenarian puts hi:
hand behind his ear and listens and cries
"What meaneth the noise Of this tumult!
An excited messenger, all out of breath with
the speed, said to him: "Our army is defeat
ed. The sacred chest, called the ark, IS cap,
tured, and your sons are dead on the held.
No wonder the father tainted and expired
The domestic tragedy in which these S.Hs tWe
sons were the tragedians had finished its fifth
and last act. He fell from off the seat
backward by the side of the gate, and his
neck brake and he died; for lie was an old
man and heavy"
Eli had made an awful mistake in regard
to his children. The Bible distinctly says:
s'His sons made themselves vile and he re-
strained them not.n Oh, the ten thousand
mistakes in rearing children, mistakes of pa.
rents, mistakes of teachers in day school and
Sabbath classes, mistakes which we all make.
This country is going to be conquered by q
great army, compared with which that of
Baldwin the First, and Xerves, and Ale3an-
der, and Grant, and Lee, all put together,
were in numbers Insignificant. They will
capture all our pulpits, storehouses, factories,
and halls of legislation, all our shipping: all
our wealth, and all our honors They
will take possession OF all author
ity, from the United States Presl-
{1o bnn ta bul 10 Y
-of everything between the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans They are on the march now,
and they halt neither day nor night. They
will soon be here, and all the present active
population of this country must surrender
and give way. refer to the great army OF
children. Whether they shall take posses
sion Of everything for good or for bad, de-
pends upon the style Of preparation through
which they pass on their way from cradle to
throne. Cicero acknowledges he kept in his
desk collection Of prefaces for books, which
thing he wanted to publish for him,
self. or others; and all parents and
teachers have all prepared the pre-
face Of every young life under their
charge, and not only the preface, but the ap-
pendf1, whether the volume be poem or a
farce. Families and schools and legislatures
are in our day busily engaged in discussing
what Is the best mode Of educating children.
Before this question almost every other
.dwindles into insigni6cance, while de-
pendent upon its proper solution is the well
Fare of governments and ages eternal
Macaulay tells of the war which Frederick
the Second made against Queen Marie
There's. And one day she appeared before
the Diet, wearing mourning for her father,
and held up in her arms before them her
child. the Archduke. This so wrought upon
the officers and deputies Of the people that
with half drawn swords they broke forth In
the war cry: "Iet US die for our Queen,
Maria Theresam So, this morning, realizing
that the boy Of to-day is to be the ruler of
the future, the popular sovereign, l hold him
before the American people to arouse their
enthusiasm in his behalf, and to evoke their
oath for his defense, his education and his
sublime destiny.
II pareut, you will remember when you
were aroused to these great responsibilities,
and when you found that you had not done
all required after you had admired the tiny
hands, and the glossy hair, and the bright
eyes that lay in the cradle. You suddenly
remembered that that hand would yet be
raised to b!esss the world with its benedic-
tion, or to smite it with curse. In Arios-
tos great poem there is character called
Ruggiero, who has a shield of insufferable
splendor, but it is kept veiled, save on certain
occasions, and when uncovered it startled
and overwhelmed its beholder, who before
had no suspicion Of its brightness. My hope
to-day Is to uncover the destiny of your child
or student, about which you have no especial
appreciation, and flash upon you the splen-
dors of its immortal nature. Behold the
shield and the sword of its coming conflict
propose in this discourse to set forth what
Iconsider to be some Ct the errors prevalent
in the training of children.
First: remark that many err in too great
severity or too great leniency Of family gov
ernment. Between parental tyranny and
runous laxativeness of discipline there Is a
medium Sometimes the father errs on one
side and the mother on the other side. Good
family government is all important An
archy and misrule in the domestic circle is
the forerunner Of anarchy and misule in the
State. What repulsive spectacle is home
without order or discipline, disobedience and
impudence, and anger and falSehood lift
ing their horrid front in the place which
should be consecrated to all that is holy, and
peaceful, and beautiful In the attempt to
avoid all this, and bring the children under
proper laws and regulations, parents have
,rigor. John Howard, who was merciful
to the prisons and lazarettos, was
merciiess in the treatment Of his
children. John Milton knew everything but
how to train his family. Severe and unrea"
-sonable was he in his carriage toward them.
He compelled his daughters to read to him in
four or five languages, but would not allow
them to learn any Of them, for he said that
one tongue was enough for a woman. Their
reading was mechanical drudgery, when, if
they had understood the languages they read,
the employment Of reading might have been
q luxury. No wonder his children deSpised
him, and stealthily sold his books and hoped
for his death. In all ages there has been need
OF a society for prevention of cruelty to chill
-dren. When Barbara was put to death by
her father because she had countermanded his
order, and had three windows put in room
instead Of two, this cruel parent was type
of many who have acted tho Nero and the
Robespierre in the home circle. The heart
sickens at what you sometimes see, even in
families that pretend to be Christian-per.
petual scolding, and hair-pulling, earbo5
ing, and humping, and stamping, and fault
finding, and teasing, until the children are
ve1ed beyond bounds, and growl in the
sleeve, and pout, and rebel, and vow
within themselves that in after day:
they will retaliate for the crueltie:
practiced. Many home has become as flu!
Of dispute as was the home Of John O'Groat
who built his house at the most northerlJ
point in Great Britain. And tradition say!
that the house had eight windows, and eigh
doors, and table of eight sides, because hi
had light children, and the only way to kee!
them out of bitter quarrel was to have .
separate appointment for each one Of them.
That child's nature is too delicate to b
worked upon by sledge-hammer, and gouge
and pile-driver. Such fierce lashing, instead
Of breaking the high mettle to bit and trace
will make it dash Off the more uncomfortable
Many seem to think that children are f1av-
not fit for use till they have been hetcheled ant
swingled Some one talking to child, said
81 wonder what makes that tree out there 81
families al the discipline is concentrated upcI
one child's head. If anything is done wrong
the supposition is that George did it. III